Houston mayor at Obama's side at Austin fund-raisers

Updated 2:19 am, Wednesday, July 18, 2012

AUSTIN — President Barack Obama got an enthusiastic reception from a crowd of about 1,000 at the Austin Music Hall, where he laid out the election as a clear choice for voters. Among officials who joined him onstage and private receptions beforehand was Houston Mayor Annise Parker.

"This is about two fundamentally different visions for where we take our country," Obama told the Austin crowd. "Ultimately, you're the ones that are going to be able to settle this dispute with your vote."

On the economy, he took a shot at Romney over outsourcing of jobs and said the campaign is a choice between "top-down economics" and what he called "middle-out" and "bottom-up" economics, a system that he said gives everyone a chance to do better.

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"That's what made us into an economic superpower, this idea that anybody could make it," he said.

Among a litany of differences, Obama cited his proposal to allow young people who were brought here illegally by their parents as children to stay, getting an enthusiastic response.

That issue one of particular importance to Austin attorney Stefani Wilson, 30, who said she wants such young people to have the same opportunities and educational support that she had. She said she voted for Obama last time and thinks it's even more important this time.

"I think it's more imperative to vote this time around than last time. McCain was an OK candidate. Romney, not so much," she said.

Parker said afterward it's evident that the country faces a decision.

"Clearly, if we care about access to health care in this country, we have a stark choice. If we care about the opportunities for immigrants in this country, we have a stark choice. If we care about equality for GLBT Americans, we have a stark choice. If we care about how our tax dollars are spent we have a stark choice," she said.

Parker said she had offered to do anything she could to help Obama win re-election within the constraints of her office.

"I hope to be able to campaign some outside of Texas," she said, emphasizing, "I never let campaigning interfere with my duties as mayor."

While "no one expects him to carry Texas," Parker said he can make "a tremendous difference" to people further down the ballot in many big cities, including Houston and San Antonio.

"He will have coattails," she said, "and we're doing what we can to make sure that those coattails reach as far as they can."

Obama also got a tart demand from an apology from Gov. Rick Perry, who took issue with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's description of voter identification laws like the one in Texas as akin to a poll tax.

"That's the type of inflammatory rhetoric and racial divisiveness that exhibits everything that is wrong with public discourse today," Perry told reporters.

Perry said Obama "didn't call my office and tell me he was coming to town, but you know we've got a little history with meet-and-greet."

Perry skipped greeting Obama on the tarmac in El Paso when Obama visited Texas last year. He did greet Obama on a visit to Texas in 2010, when the governor asked for more border troops.

Tickets ranged from $250 to $1,000 per person for the Austin Music Hall event. Those who wanted to attend a reception beforehand, where they could have a photo taken with Obama, paid $5,000 apiece, or $7,500 per couple. There were two small receptions, with one for members of the LGBT Leadership Council.

Obama then attended a fundraiser at the Four Seasons residences hosted by former Dell Inc. chief financial officer Tom Meredith, at which guests paid $25,000 per couple, according to a person familiar with the campaign events.